[SOLVED] CRUX 2.4 PPC install problem

[ramin.honary]

Well, Dapper.Dan got me interested in CRUX. It sounds like fun, so I thought I would give it a try. But before I can even get started, I am having a slight problem with the install.

When I boot into the installer and login as root, I expect to be able to create new directories in the /mnt directory, but I can't, it says I am working on a read-only file system.

I thought the installer's root file system was supposed to be some kind of ramdisk, but apparently giving me CD-ROM as the root file system. Is there a kernel parameter I should supply before booting? (I am using an aluminum PowerBook G4)

[Dapper Dan]

Hi ramin.honary,

Sorry to hear you ran into this. I've never had this problem with 2.2, 2.3, 2.4 or 2.5 in i686 so I'm baffled myself. It might be the difference between the two architectures that accounts for the problem but that's grasping at straws at this point. I'll see if I can locate a proper answer and remedy for you.

EDIT: Just looking over the CRUX 2.4 PPC handbook, it appears the install is a little more involved for PPC. I think the answer likely is somewhere there. Hope it helps!

[ramin.honary]

Well, it's not a big deal really. I'm just a bit miffed as to why the high-level operating system structure of the installer for PPC would be any different than i686.

I did get the system installed by simply mounting my linux partition directly into the /mnt directory, then did chroot and continued normally. Everything is running smothly as far as I can see. Now I am just trying to work out the details of the package management system.

I can say, CRUX is by far the smallest linux I have ever seen. Even a full install of the base, x.org, and all optional packages, and lots of optional kernel modules, takes only 0.8 gigabytes. Even Gentoo took about 3 gigabytes as I recall. I am looking forward to playing with this. Thank you very much Dapper.Dan, for recommending this to me!

However, if anyone can tell me why the root file system on the CRUX installer is not a ramdisk (am I missing a kernel boot parameter?), please let me know, because that is a very handy feature on the Gentoo installer.

[acrux]

from CRUX PPC 2.4 Handbook

5. Mount the partition on which you want to install this distribution.

 $ mount -t type /dev/hd?? /mnt

If you want the installation to span more than one partition, mount those partitions as well. For example, if you want to have a different partition for /home or /var, then do:

 $ mkdir /mnt/var
 $ mount -t type /dev/hd?? /mnt/var

you must mount your desired root partition..then you can procede.

[ramin.honary]

That is exactly what I did, and like I said, I got everything installed just fine . But I was just a bit surprised that the CD-ROM was mounted as the root file system.

Also, I suggested on the CRUX forum that on the 2.5 release, or perhaps 2.6, they release an installer ISO which mounts its file system on a ramdisk. Like I said, I think that is a very useful feature.